Who We Are
by Folan00
Summary: A rebellion is forming. The loners are sick and tired of how the townspeople despise them and how the king pays no heed to their pleas for help. The loners are gathering to oppose the king, and Shadow Dacora is one of them. When she arrives, dehydrated and hungry Percy Jackson is the one who befriends her first. Will both friends make it through the rebellion? Or will one fall?


**Why do I write stories relating to The Rebel's Rise when I have no inspiration for the story? I don't know. Anyways, read on and enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own PJO. I own Shadow and Jay.**

Shadow shuffled along the overgrown path, limping slightly from a fall earlier in her journey. Her horse, Nightlock, trudged behind her, at the length of the reigns.

Shadow had been traveling for days on end. It had already been twenty-one days and she wasn't even sure if she was near her destination. The destination being, what was described as a massive clearing with make-shift shelters set up and a river running through the center. This was where the loners were gathering. A rebellion was forming, the loners rebelling against the king's reign. Shadow had cemented the thought that she would play a part in this rebellion, whether she survived or not, she would help free the loners from all the hate directed at them from townspeople. She knew the hate herself, as she was one of the loners.

'If I make it that far.' Shadow thought wearily. Her food supply had run out a few days ago, as the trip was going longer than she had expected. Weather and the directions had held her up and her food supply was bound to run out at some point, no matter how much she rationed. She had managed to find a meager supply of edible plants, but other than that, the land was desolate here. The ground was parched and the trees were dry and spindly.

She picked her way over dry roots and tried to keep her mind off of how hungry she was and the lack of water. She wouldn't last long if she couldn't find a stream, or something beside the nasty, tiny puddles filled with algae that dominated some shady parts of the ground in this forest. She also tried to ignore that her tongue felt like sandpaper. "Shut up mind!" she exclaimed aloud.

Fatigue was starting to set in as Shadow continued walking. Her muscles felt like lead and she felt light-headed. Whether that was from weariness or hunger, Shadow wasn't sure, but she knew it wasn't a good sign.

She stumbled and almost went sprawling on the ground.

'Stay up and keep going.' Shadow scolded herself mentally. If she fell she wouldn't get back up, and this whole journey would be pointless.

Nightlock nosed Shadow and snorted as if agreeing to her mistress's thought, as the mare was as tired as Shadow. Shadow stroked the mare's neck lightly and pressed on.

When Shadow caught sight of tents pitched up in a large clearing she was nearly laughing with relief. She had reached the rebels' camp! Shadow was trying to formulate a way to announce that she was here in her sluggish mind, yet there was no need to. Someone walked out of one of the tents and noticed her. He called out something to another girl and both started over towards Shadow.

Shadow stumbled forward as a wave of exhaustion crashed over her. The boy and girl rushed to her side as Shadow's knees buckled and she sank to the ground.

The boy kneeled down beside her and called out; "Jay, go get Will!" The sound of running footsteps followed his words. Both the footsteps and his voice sounded muffled, as if it was traveling through water. Shadow struggled to stay awake and eventually gave up, closing her eyes and sank into darkness.

* * *

Percy cursed under his breath as the girl lost consciousness. "Just hang on until Will gets here." He muttered, although he knew she couldn't hear him. There had already been one fatality when the rebels had started arriving, and that had been from the long journey they had traveled to get here. Percy didn't want another name added to that list. Hopefully it wouldn't become a list.

"Jay told me to come." Said a voice behind Percy.

"Will!" Percy exclaimed turning around. Jay was standing behind Will, looking indifferent, like this sort of thing happened every day.

Will moved over next to the girl and inspected her. After a few minutes of this, where he seemed to use whatever knowledge allowed him to come up with a reason for anything injury related in a way Percy nor Jay was understand, he spoke again.

"It seems minor dehydration, hunger, and plain out exhaustion."

Jay raised her eyebrows. "How did you figure that out so fast?" Will had that look on his face that usually meant some long, explanation filled with words no one understood so Percy held his hand up.

"Never mind, the question is what do we do now?"

"We should take her into one of the empty tents. Can you bring her over? I'll go find an empty tent." Will said, rattling off other stuff that he would grab. Percy just nodded and pretended he was listening to the second half of what Will said.

Will ran off and Percy picked the girl up, slipping one arm behind her knees and the other behind her thin shoulders. Percy stood and looked at Jay. "Can you see where Will went?" Jay nodded and went ahead to find Will, again.

Percy followed her, until they eventually came to one of the smaller white tents in the corner of the clearing.

"Bring her in." Will called. Percy obeyed, walking in and placing the girl down on a pile of blankets Will had managed to scrounge up. The quality of living in this camp wasn't the greatest sometimes.

"We should probably let her rest." Will concluded. "Call me when she wakes up." He was soon gone, back to doing whatever he had been doing before.

* * *

It seemed like a long while before Shadow woke up again, but in truth, by the sliver of daylight she could see, it might have only been an hour or so. When her eyes fluttered open she focused on the sliver of daylight. Then when her mind clear, she saw she was enclosed in a tent of some sort. Trapped! She yelped and bolted up, on her feet in a second, one hand against one of the wooden support poles for the tent to keep her steady, the other gripping her dagger.

The boy she had seen earlier was also on his feet, although he appeared unarmed. Why was her captor unarmed? This fact made Shadow extremely suspicious. The last time she had awakened somewhere enclosed it had been because she had been taken hostage.

"Put down the dagger." The boy said, without any malice in his voice. "I won't try to hurt you."

Shadow was convinced by this and dropped her dagger. "Why should I believe you?" Shadow felt like slapping herself, she was asking that question _after_ she put her weapon down. That was always the dumbest thing to do, or so her father had told her.

"Your one of the rebels aren't you?" they boy asked. When Shadow nodded he cracked a smile. "That's exactly why you should trust me. I'm a rebel, you're a rebel, we're all rebel's here."

Just after that statement, the girl Shadow had seen before falling unconscious walked in. She glanced between Shadow and the boy.

"Percy, I thought I told you not to let her escape." She said, disapproval flowing through her voice. So that was the boy's name, _Percy Jackson_.

"Ah, that is where you are wrong Jay." Percy corrected, still grinning. "She has not escaped. She has merely tried to decide whether to trust us."

"She has no choice." Jay said. "She came here, and that means she has come here to join the rebels."

"I don't _need_ to do anything. " Shadow retorted. "I have no reason to listen to you." Jay turned on her, clearly not used to be argued with.

"Excuse me? I would like to argue with the argument you just presented. You in fact, must listen to me, because now I clearly overpower you." Jay said superiority active in her voice.

"Jay, enough, you don't need to start a fight over this. There isn't a point." Percy sighed.

Much to Shadow's surprise Jay just muttered something under her breath and stalked out.

"Sorry about her, she can get a bit pushy." Percy whispered apologetically, so the retreating Jay wouldn't hear. "Anyways, you never introduced yourself."

"I'm Shadow, Shadow Dacora if you must know my first and last name." Shadow said.

"Nice to meet you Shadow, I am Percy Jackson, and if there must be a formal welcome, welcome to the rebel's camp. Home of the rebellion!" Percy replied with fake bravado.

Shadow laughed, a short, but light laugh. "I can't take you seriously when you talk that way, even more so with that wacky smile on your face!"

"Oh I'm quite sorry Miss Dacora. Is this better?" Percy asked, changing his expression so it was ridded of the goofy smile and replaced by a fake serious look.

"Not really." Shadow said grinning.

"Well, then I can help in no way. Anyways, we were supposed to call Will when you woke up, but you seem to be fine. So I decree that we shall go and get you acquainted with this place, as it seems to be almost the time for us rough and tough loners to eat. Of course, that usually consists of the worse food we can find, but it's better than nothing. You up to it?" Percy asked.

"I'm up to it." Shadow agreed.

"Fantastic! So, let us press forward." Percy said enthusiastically, leading the way out of the tent and out into the bright air of late afternoon.

It turns out there wasn't that much to show. There were the tents, and the river, along with the trees. An abundance of trees. It only took maybe a half hour to reach the canopy that shaded where the loners ate breakfast, sometimes lunch, and dinner. Today was apparently a lunch day, as it was midday and low and behold, there were people in the dining area.

When Percy walked in with Shadow tagging behind, all conversation stopped and all eyes turned towards Shadow.

"Uh..hello..everyone." Shadow said awkwardly.

**So yes. First chapter of ****Who We Are**** Shadow is introduced along with Jay and Percy, and lets not forget Will! **

**Merry {Early} Holidays,**

**~Folan**


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